Syro period interviews

[rekosn]

So, still upcoming in the Syro interview series:

 

- Groove Magazine (released next week, 18th of october! Apparenty they asked 25 questions (thought of by 25 different producers, one of them Skrillex) to Richard)

- Noyzelab

- ?

and tsugi. any french watmmers out there, pls get on this

[MassfreeKid]

Still waiting for the Tsugi interview, they said it would be 7 pages of interview.

[MassfreeKid]

I don't know if you guys agree, but it doesn't make sense to me, in 2014, to only release a translated version of an interview when it was done in english. I mean, they should all release the original version to go with the translated one, online or something. At least there is a cool place like here where everything get translated back to english but still!

[Perezvon]

Didn't know about that Tsugi interview, I'll try to get it tomorrow and see what I can do

[WaxenPith]

Didn't know about that Tsugi interview, I'll try to get it tomorrow and see what I can do

 

[Perezvon]

Okay here it is. It's not perfect but translating from French really is a pain sometimes.

 

 

 

(...)

At 43, Richard D. James seems 10 younger. Despite a strong strabismus, giving him a kind of weird look, he appears to us in the same state of mind his album bears : relaxed and at ease. His young wife is here as well. She'll spend the whole time of interview drawing the scene. Light years away from the madness surrounding his character, we discover Richard as a quiet family man. He confesses : « I love working at night, but it's difficult when you have kids. For now they're on holidays, oversleeping, which is great. But I'll have to go to bed at 1am and wake up at 7 to accompany them to school when it starts again... » A nice father, but not quite your typical one : he confesses a bit later being a mushroom hunting enthusiast. Not only for ceps, to be more precise.

Aphex Twin actually had to get up early in the morning to meet us. He moved in a Scottish village of 300 people in 2006. This great comeback is a way for him to reach a larger audience. With a smile on his face, he tells us while peeling an orange : « If I weren't so shy, I'd put myself in Beyonce's place. I kind of want to do that, but it would be so tough and stressful it wouldn't be good to make music. Commercial music never stops. It's like a mass production factory. Doesn't help producing quality stuff. I'm giving more interviews though right now, to Q Magazine or Rolling Stones for instance, because I want to capture the attention of a more mainstream audience. It's pretty cool because usually I don't do that. And they would never interview someone like me. »

Let's reassure the hardcore fans who see him like the integrity of techno's embodiment, the exposure of Aphex Twin to the light isn't only explained by a sudden « bling-bling » mutation. There's a more down-to-earth one : « There are like 10 000 tracks in my computer. I had to release some so I could save them. It surprised me that Warp could be arsed to do that, since I read everywhere that nobody buys music anymore. It's also a way to loosen things and focus on the next step. I record every single one of my experimentations because I realized they could become songs. But it can get unsettling when you save the 43rd version of a track, then come back to the 20^th because you eventually think it was better than the 43rd. But then you're like 'Shit, I deleted all the versions between these two, maybe one of them was even better'. When I started making music, I couldn't afford buying new tapes so I recorded myself on those my mother had, of Johnny Mathis for example. I was pretty restrained. Now there's so much memory in those computers. » The producer dug deep in his hard drive. The track «180db » is a 9 year old track. The others have been written during a period going from 6 years ago to 6 months ago.

(…)

Born in Ireland, raised in Cornwall, Richard is a child of rave before everything else. It fed his first productions such as the famous « Digeridoo » released in 92 on the fierce label R&S. The hippies' favourite music instrument, on par with the djembe, wad subject to an extreme and remarkable acid-dancefloor interpretation. He hasn't forgotten the rave, even now having passed the forties mark : « I still like that, it's cool, but I prefer participing to that anonymously, with a pseudonym. Rave really is a tribal thing to me, like a very ancient process. Dancing around the fire to the sound of drums, doing drugs while having sex... This has been around for a long time. It's just another version of that we know today. » By slowing the beat down, the future author of « Come to Daddy » ended up developing a more personal creativity with Selected Ambient Works 85-92 or I Care Because You Do, still not getting old 20 years later. Such a rare performance in electronic music where productions rust sometimes as fast as the machines they were made on. These tracks bear a particuliar nostalgia that haven't left him since. In Syro, some songs provoke tears more than they shake legs. « I'm nostalgic about everything : time going by, things that appear and disappear... », he explains, putting his sentence on hold as if he was about to tell us a secret. His relation with time may deeply puzzle him, it can also lead him to happier ideas. « Once I was with a friend and we were having fun with modular synths. I told him that if we customized them in a particular way, we could build a time machine. I was serious. He said : 'You really think so ?', like I was nuts. I said : 'Yeah look, you do that all the time with a delay. You can suspend a sound, bring it back, then move it away... It's like a little time machine' », he says, proud of his poetic discovery.

 

Like we can imagine, he's deeply into machines, on which he spends most of his time. Richard is like a kid in front of a Christmas tree when he discovers a new one. Lately he's been very excited about the release of a new module made by the Spanish firm Addac System, named Open Heart Surgery. […] What inspires him ? « Silence. Having nothing to do. Being bored. That's the best inspiration. Unfortunately I'm hardly bored and you don't have the right to remain silent when you have kids. But when I do get bored, I'm like 'Yeah, that's it' and I can feel the creative instinct coming. From the guts ! Clearly it's when you have nothing to do that you feel like making stuff. » Even if he likes silence, Richie (note from self : fucking LOL) still listens to music. « I'm addicted to new music. I listen to new stuff all the time. I can't really name anyone that put me in awe lately though. Ah wait, yes, Stockhausen ! Well I mean it's not that great. I don't really like what he does. But when I try to understand his music, I'm like 'Dear God, this is fantastic, this is incredible ' ! Somehow I wish I was like him, not giving a fuck about what's happening around me. But I'm not that mean... nor clever. I was like that when I was younger, but not anymore. » That's what we call maturity.

The expert of treasure hunt like communication and false anecdote making decided not to meddle in the teasing campaign around Syro's unexpected launch. « I was very involved in all that process before, but this time I had spent so much time and energy gathering my music I didn't want to take care of it. I left that to the label. » Yet another myth debunked.

 

Our interview with the man many consider a god - a very human divinity as we could notice – is coming to an end. It lasted twice longer than planned and the welcoming Richard D. James still is surprising us. If the name of Aphex Twin shines beyond the electronic sphere, it's thanks to two otherwordly music videos, for Come to Daddy and Windowlicker, made by his accomplice, the video and film maker Chris Cunningham. Unsettling and unsettled and with an equally hair-rising soundtrack, both videos were like two guided missiles exploding on MTV's face. Impossible to escape from. Even though YouTube appeared since, they've lost nothing of their strength. But we'll hardly ever see their successor. « Videos annoy me a bit. People often feel like they have to make one because the sound isn't good enough. It's like when I'm asked : 'Have you ever thought about scoring for films ?' People freak out because I produce abstract stuff so they need a story to hang on. I think my music is good enough. It's self sufficient. There's no need to watch something while listening to it. »

 

 

I've skipped some parts of the text (mind the (...)) where there weren't any quotes nor valuable information, plus some sentences sometimes that are typical examples of journalists farting higher than their asses (there's still some of that though). Sorry if you wanted the whole cover story, I've worked with journalists and know them too much to withstand their bullshit now lol.

[Herr Jan]

Thanks a lot Perezvon! I'll also post this interview to the OP now.

So they got twice as much time to do the interview but still this is the bulk of the interview? Or did you cut a lot?

I keep noticing the same stories in every interview, like he did a press conference with all the interviewers at the same time. Are the journalists all just asking the same questions, or did he just randomly began telling his prepared stories everytime? The only new story is that of the modular time machine (lol)

[Perezvon]

Thanks a lot Perezvon! I'll also post this interview to the OP now.

 

So they got twice as long but still this is the bulk of the interview? Or did you cut a lot?

 

I keep noticing the same stories in every interview, like he did a press conference with all the interviewers at the same time. Are the journalists all just asking the same questions, or did he just randomly began telling his prepared stories everytime? The only new story is that of the modular time machine (lol)

 

 

I didn't cut that much, only maybe a page out of the seven, and every bit where Aphex is talking about something is here. These weren't even seven 'full' pages though, the layout is kinda rubbish.

[Zephyr_Nova]

 

Despite a strong strabismus, giving him a kind of weird look...

Ha, nice one.

 

I agree that boredom is the best thing for creativity. Nothing inspires better like having nothing better to do. If I ever get interviewed, I'm using that line.

[J3FF3R00]

Okay here it is. It's not perfect but translating from French really is a pain sometimes.

 

 

 

(...)

At 43, Richard D. James seems 10 younger. Despite a strong strabismus, giving him a kind of weird look, he appears to us in the same state of mind his album bears : relaxed and at ease. His young wife is here as well. She'll spend the whole time of interview drawing the scene. Light years away from the madness surrounding his character, we discover Richard as a quiet family man. He confesses : « I love working at night, but it's difficult when you have kids. For now they're on holidays, oversleeping, which is great. But I'll have to go to bed at 1am and wake up at 7 to accompany them to school when it starts again... » A nice father, but not quite your typical one : he confesses a bit later being a mushroom hunting enthusiast. Not only for ceps, to be more precise.

Aphex Twin actually had to get up early in the morning to meet us. He moved in a Scottish village of 300 people in 2006. This great comeback is a way for him to reach a larger audience. With a smile on his face, he tells us while peeling an orange : « If I weren't so shy, I'd put myself in Beyonce's place. I kind of want to do that, but it would be so tough and stressful it wouldn't be good to make music. Commercial music never stops. It's like a mass production factory. Doesn't help producing quality stuff. I'm giving more interviews though right now, to Q Magazine or Rolling Stones for instance, because I want to capture the attention of a more mainstream audience. It's pretty cool because usually I don't do that. And they would never interview someone like me. »

Let's reassure the hardcore fans who see him like the integrity of techno's embodiment, the exposure of Aphex Twin to the light isn't only explained by a sudden « bling-bling » mutation. There's a more down-to-earth one : « There are like 10 000 tracks in my computer. I had to release some so I could save them. It surprised me that Warp could be arsed to do that, since I read everywhere that nobody buys music anymore. It's also a way to loosen things and focus on the next step. I record every single one of my experimentations because I realized they could become songs. But it can get unsettling when you save the 43rd version of a track, then come back to the 20^th because you eventually think it was better than the 43rd. But then you're like 'Shit, I deleted all the versions between these two, maybe one of them was even better'. When I started making music, I couldn't afford buying new tapes so I recorded myself on those my mother had, of Johnny Mathis for example. I was pretty restrained. Now there's so much memory in those computers. » The producer dug deep in his hard drive. The track «180db » is a 9 year old track. The others have been written during a period going from 6 years ago to 6 months ago.

()

Born in Ireland, raised in Cornwall, Richard is a child of rave before everything else. It fed his first productions such as the famous « Digeridoo » released in 92 on the fierce label R&S. The hippies' favourite music instrument, on par with the djembe, wad subject to an extreme and remarkable acid-dancefloor interpretation. He hasn't forgotten the rave, even now having passed the forties mark : « I still like that, it's cool, but I prefer participing to that anonymously, with a pseudonym. Rave really is a tribal thing to me, like a very ancient process. Dancing around the fire to the sound of drums, doing drugs while having sex... This has been around for a long time. It's just another version of that we know today. » By slowing the beat down, the future author of « Come to Daddy » ended up developing a more personal creativity with Selected Ambient Works 85-92 or I Care Because You Do, still not getting old 20 years later. Such a rare performance in electronic music where productions rust sometimes as fast as the machines they were made on. These tracks bear a particuliar nostalgia that haven't left him since. In Syro, some songs provoke tears more than they shake legs. « I'm nostalgic about everything : time going by, things that appear and disappear... », he explains, putting his sentence on hold as if he was about to tell us a secret. His relation with time may deeply puzzle him, it can also lead him to happier ideas. « Once I was with a friend and we were having fun with modular synths. I told him that if we customized them in a particular way, we could build a time machine. I was serious. He said : 'You really think so ?', like I was nuts. I said : 'Yeah look, you do that all the time with a delay. You can suspend a sound, bring it back, then move it away... It's like a little time machine' », he says, proud of his poetic discovery.

 

Like we can imagine, he's deeply into machines, on which he spends most of his time. Richard is like a kid in front of a Christmas tree when he discovers a new one. Lately he's been very excited about the release of a new module made by the Spanish firm Addac System, named Open Heart Surgery. [] What inspires him ? « Silence. Having nothing to do. Being bored. That's the best inspiration. Unfortunately I'm hardly bored and you don't have the right to remain silent when you have kids. But when I do get bored, I'm like 'Yeah, that's it' and I can feel the creative instinct coming. From the guts ! Clearly it's when you have nothing to do that you feel like making stuff. » Even if he likes silence, Richie (note from self : fucking LOL) still listens to music. « I'm addicted to new music. I listen to new stuff all the time. I can't really name anyone that put me in awe lately though. Ah wait, yes, Stockhausen ! Well I mean it's not that great. I don't really like what he does. But when I try to understand his music, I'm like 'Dear God, this is fantastic, this is incredible ' ! Somehow I wish I was like him, not giving a fuck about what's happening around me. But I'm not that mean... nor clever. I was like that when I was younger, but not anymore. » That's what we call maturity.

The expert of treasure hunt like communication and false anecdote making decided not to meddle in the teasing campaign around Syro's unexpected launch. « I was very involved in all that process before, but this time I had spent so much time and energy gathering my music I didn't want to take care of it. I left that to the label. » Yet another myth debunked.

 

Our interview with the man many consider a god - a very human divinity as we could notice is coming to an end. It lasted twice longer than planned and the welcoming Richard D. James still is surprising us. If the name of Aphex Twin shines beyond the electronic sphere, it's thanks to two otherwordly music videos, for Come to Daddy and Windowlicker, made by his accomplice, the video and film maker Chris Cunningham. Unsettling and unsettled and with an equally hair-rising soundtrack, both videos were like two guided missiles exploding on MTV's face. Impossible to escape from. Even though YouTube appeared since, they've lost nothing of their strength. But we'll hardly ever see their successor. « Videos annoy me a bit. People often feel like they have to make one because the sound isn't good enough. It's like when I'm asked : 'Have you ever thought about scoring for films ?' People freak out because I produce abstract stuff so they need a story to hang on. I think my music is good enough. It's self sufficient. There's no need to watch something while listening to it. »

 

 

I've skipped some parts of the text (mind the (...)) where there weren't any quotes nor valuable information, plus some sentences sometimes that are typical examples of journalists farting higher than their asses (there's still some of that though). Sorry if you wanted the whole cover story, I've worked with journalists and know them too much to withstand their bullshit now lol.

 

Good read! Many thanks

[MassfreeKid]

Thanks a lot Perezvon! I'll also post this interview to the OP now.

So they got twice as much time to do the interview but still this is the bulk of the interview? Or did you cut a lot?

I keep noticing the same stories in every interview, like he did a press conference with all the interviewers at the same time. Are the journalists all just asking the same questions, or did he just randomly began telling his prepared stories everytime? The only new story is that of the modular time machine (lol)

 

It looks like he wasn't interviewed by big time fans who know his music and story really well. Instead, they sent professional journalists who ended up asking the same boring questions. So many new interviews that could have been just one!

[DerWaschbar]

lol imagine listening to the audio of him being interviewed by a fan who is just quietly sobbing at his knees.

[Joyrex]

yeah anybody know when the noyzelab interview??

fairly soon, I'd reckon...

[delet...]

Gonna be weird hearing his voice without all that modulation.

[jchgf]

Merci perezvon!

[rekosn]

thank you !

[purplegoat]

thanks for translation!

[Mag]

thanks perezvon! so...syro is time machine?

[psn]

It did manage to travel to my hard disk a few days before release, anyway.

[Perezvon]

It did manage to travel to my hard disk a few days before release, anyway.

 

You're welcome guys. Too bad Tsugi isn't a particularly interesting magazine

[Herr Jan]

So it seems the French have finally woken up, another one:

Le Nouvel Observateur Obsession N 21 - Octobre 2014.pdf uploaded by user Pitbulle (thanks!)

Anyone up for a translation?

[MassfreeKid]

I will see after work but really it's almost a copy paste of the Tsugi one, which was a copy past of the previous interviews.

[Zephyr_Nova]

Gonna be weird hearing his voice without all that modulation.

 

Nah, the reason the noyzlab interview isn't out yet is because they've been perfecting the ring modulator automation on Richard's voice throughout. It's going to set a new precendent for all future electronic musician interviews.

[rekosn]

I enjoyed reading the tsugi interview. all in all, rich seems in very good spirits; his answers are considerate, it´s clear they would be sooooo much better if all of them journos didn´t ask the same questions

[delet...]

Well we can forgive them somewhat given that all the interviews were conducted at the same period before any journo had any idea what the other had asked, so the desire to ask the same stuff first and most importantly would have been irresistible. That said not doing more research on your subject, digging down a little for some out of leftfield questions, yeah, you're right. But we have an awesome upcoming deluxe report that should polish that need.